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Friday, October 05, 2012

I made this delicious stew in a few minutes in my pressure cooker, but you can make it in a regular pan.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites. I first made this delicious pressure cooker stew back in 2009, and my friend Barbara's fantastic new pressure cooker blog is inspiring me to get going on some new recipes for the pressure cooker!)

This delightful stew with pinto beans, ground beef, and cilantro is something I had for lunch three days in a row, and I completely enjoyed it each time. If you're not a pressure cooker convert, read after the recipe to see how the stew can be made in a regular pot on the stove, but obviously it's much quicker in the pressure cooker. By the way, if anyone looked at that photo and thought about chili, there's no chili powder in this, so it's definitely not chili! Actually cilantro is the predominant flavor here, so if you're one of those poor cilantro-impaired folks, maybe you'll want to search for a different stew recipe!

One thing I love about the pressure cooker is how you can start with unsoaked beans and have a wonderful dish less than an hour later. This is the pinto beans after I pressure cooked them and drained off the liquid.

Since I was only going to pressure cook the soup a few minutes, after I sauteed the onions and garlic, I added the dried and ground herbs and sauteed for a few minutes to release the flavor.

Here's how the stew looked in the pressure cooker before I put the lid on and pressure cooked for just 2 minutes, before letting pressure release slowly for about 15 minutes. You could also simmer on top of stove for about 45 minutes, adding a bit more liquid.

Pressure Cooker Recipe for Pinto Bean and Beef Soup with Cumin and Cilantro
(Makes about 6 servings, recipe created by Kalyn.)

Put 1 cup dried pinto beans in pressure cooker with 2 tsp. olive oil, add water to fill pressure cooker half full, lock lid, and pressure cook at high pressure 15 minutes. (Start to time after high pressure is reached.) Turn off heat and let pressure release naturally (about 15 minutes.) When all pressure is released, drain beans into colander, reserving 1 cup bean cooking liquid. (You can also use 2 cans pinto beans, rinsed well in a colander placed in the sink, then drained.)

While beans are cooking, heat 2 tsp. olive oil in large heavy frying pan, add ground beef and season with Spike seasoning, then saute until beef is well-browned, breaking apart with back of the turner as it cooks. When it's well browned, remove beef to a bowl.

Heat 2 tsp. more olive oil in frying pan, then add onion and saute about 5 minutes, or until onion is starting to brown. Add minced garlic and saute 2 minutes more, then add Mexican oregano, cumin, and dried cilantro and saute about 2 minutes more.

When beans have finished cooking and been drained into a colander, add cooked ground beef to pressure cooker, followed by onion/garlic/herb mixture. Add chicken stock to frying pan and simmer a minute, scraping off any browned bits and adding that liquid to pressure cooker, along with 1 cup reserved bean cooking liquid (or water, if using canned beans.) Add beans, tomato paste and can of tomaotes to pressure cooker.

Lock lid and pressure cook for 2 minutes at high pressure. (Start to time after high pressure is reached.) Turn off heat and let pressure release naturally, about 15 minutes. When pressure is released, add sliced green onion, chopped fresh cilantro, and lime juice, turn heat on and cook with lid off for about 5 minutes. Serve hot, with additional chopped cilantro to add at the table if desired.

How to Cook in a regular soup pot on the stove:
For canned beans, rinse and drain as described above. To use dried beans, you will need to soak beans overnight, drain, add fresh water to cover by a few inches and simmer until beans are soft, about 45 minutes. Follow directions as above for browning meat, browning onions with garlic and herbs, and deglazing frying pan with chicken stock. Combine browned meat, onion mixture, chicken stock, water, cooked beans, tomato paste, and canned tomatoes in heavy soup pot, adding 1 cup more chicken stock for cooking in open pan. Simmer over low heat about 45 minutes, adding a bit more water if needed. When stew seems done, add green onion, chopped cilantro, and lime juice as above and cook a few more minutes.

This stew with low-glycemic dried beans and low-fat ground beef is a great dish for any phase of the South Beach Diet. (Edit: I keep hearing from people who tell me that pinto beans aren't approved for phase one, but in the newest book, The South Beach Diet Supercharged, they are listed in the list of beans for phase one.)

South Beach Suggestions:
As long as you use lean ground beef, everything in this recipe is approved for all phases of the South Beach Diet. Beans are a limited food for Phase One, but in a stew like this with lots of other low-glycemic ingredients, you can have a regular serving.

Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

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Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

I was so excited to find your blog! I honestly could get lost for hours in it. Love it! Anyway, this pressure cooker recipe looks great. I love my pressure cooker. I use an old-fashioned one that was my mother's. Haven't upgraded to the new fancy ones. Will try this recipe this weekend. Thanks!

Kalyn: Well, you're obviously still enjoying your pressure cooker. I have just GOT to get one of those! Especially because I cook dried beans a lot and this seems like the way to go. Do you feel the consistency of the cooked bean is the same as doing it in regular pot? I love these chilis/soups you fix.

Thanks everyone. I'm truly loving the pressure cooker and have no regrets at all about buying it. I'm still figuring out how to use it, so if the beans are not cooked evenly I never know if it's my lack of knowledge or the method. The only beans I had trouble with were black beans, and they were pretty old. I think it's like stovetop cooking in that older beans will take longer to cook. I bought some fresh black beans and will try again.

Also glad to know that at least some of you are like me and could never get tired of cilantro! I try not to overdo it, but I could eat it every day I'm sure!

I've had a pressure cooker for a few years. I realized recently that it has a rounded bottom which takes a LONG time on my glass electric cooktop. I wonder if there are pressure cookers with flat bottoms? Does any one know?

Cilantro is one of those things like Barry Manilow: you either love it like me or you hate it. There's no middle ground.

And yes, a pressure cooker is a wonderful tool to have around. When I bought mine three years ago, I had no idea how often I'd use it for everything from soups to pot roasts to chicken for chicken salads.

I do love my pressure cooker- its my only prized possesion from India. I make this kind of stew at least 1-2 times and will try it your way with chicken next time. Another vegetarian option would be to use garbanzo beans with tomato (ginger, garlic, cumin and cilantro of course).A pressure cooker not only saves time also saves a lot on cooking gas bill.

Just wanted to add- cooking black beans in a pressure also posed some problem with me- tough and hard like stones!Well I read somewhere it works best if you cook them without salt and then add salt and seasoning later. Haven't tried though. Will let you know when I do.

KalynI thought of you this morning - the "human interest" story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal was about the Cilantro Haters and how it is such a love it or hate it sort of herb. Who knew??? I've always loved Cilantro and until recently had no idea it inspired such hatred! Now the WSJ is talking about it. Go figure.

I have a friend who loves Mexican food but somehow hates cilantro. When you accompany her to a Mexican restaurant you have to plan for a very long meal; she meticulously picks out every speck of cilantro from every dish where it happens to show up.

You'd think she would just change her eating habits and decide to like something else, Greek cuisine maybe.

And for the person who was asking about tough beans: I've always heard that leaving the salt and seasonings out during the soaking and initial cooking stages is essential to get tender beans.

How would this do in a slow cooker? I don't have a pressure cooker right now, but would like to try this out. If not good in the slow cooker, can anyone recommend a low cost but decent pressure cooker?

BC, in general you can adapt most any soup or stew recipe for a slow cooker by reducing the stock (for more concentrated flavor) and maybe increasing the amount of dried herbs a little. I'd start with the same amount of stock, then simmer the stock until it's reduced by about 1/3. Canned beans would be great for the slow cooker, but if you want to use dried beans, cook them before adding to the slow cooker.

I'd guess about 2-3 hours on high or 4-5 hours on low in the slow cooker after you make those changes. Let me know how it turns out if you try it.

Sorry, but I don't know anything about other brands of pressure cookers, but if anyone else does, please chime in!

Wrestling with whether to make this or the Chili with Black Beans and Lime. (I have some ground beef I need to cook). No pinto beans, but I have pink beans which I presume wouldn't be that different. I also have some open beef stock - see that this recipe uses chicken stock. Wonder what impact that change would have? Maybe I'll just have to try it...

I did make this a few weeks ago. Pink beans were fine. At the last minute I discovered that I had grabbed parsley not cilantro at the grocery store. It tasted great with parsley. Now I'll have to try cilantro.

I made this the other day, even though it's still in the 90's here in Tucson. All the ingredients were in the house, so I whipped it up per your pressure cooker instructions. Yum, Yum!! Even better the second time around. Served it with chopped red onion, chunks of avocado, sour cream, a squeeze of lime and my favorite hot sauce, Arizona Gunslinger. Next time, I'll make this ahead and freeze it for a quick company dinner. Thanks!

I'm so glad you posted this again. I just found big bag of pintos in my cupboard so I'll make this later this week. Then it will show up on my blog :) I won't use a pressure cooker though, I had one explode on me once and that cured me.

I have cooked with a pressure cooker for years as did my parents and grandparents. I can't imagine cooking dry beans w/o a pressure cooker. Last year I splurged and bought an electric PC from Williams Sonoma. I can't begin to tell you how great it is. You put the ingredients in, close the lid, set the timer and walk away until you hear the beep that alerts you that it is finished. SO much easier than using a PC on the stovetop. It is hands down the best appliance in my kitchen.

Kayln,I checked the Costco website and the PC they are selling is the Cuisinart, same as the one I bought at Williams Sonoma and the price is better. There were 5 star reviews from almost everyone that purchased one. Maybe this could be an early Christmas gift to yourself?... :)

We love the way this recipe looks, hope you don't mind but we linked back to it from our blog: http://pressurecookeroutlet.blogspot.com/2011/01/recipes-for-cold-weather.html Thought our readers would benefit from your blog.

This is one beautiful pot of stew! I love all the fall colors and the ingredient list has all of my favorites. I bought a pressure cooker last year and will now add your stew to my pressure cooker favorites!

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